Apr 14 2025
Puffins have an almost irresistible combination of features: bright bills, expressive faces, compact bodies, and a slightly awkward walk that makes them look as though they are always hurrying somewhere important. Yet beneath their charming appearance is a remarkably well-adapted seabird capable of spending months on the open ocean and pursuing fish deep beneath the …
Aug 03 2024
Few birds look as though nature used quite as many colors as the Gouldian Finch. With a brilliant purple breast, golden-yellow belly, green back, turquoise collar, and a head that may be black, red, or yellow, this small Australian songbird is often described as a living rainbow. Native to the tropical savannas of northern Australia, …
May 24 2024
New Zealand is one of the most extraordinary places in the world for birds. Long geographic isolation, the absence of native terrestrial mammalian predators other than bats, and an enormous range of habitats allowed birds to evolve in ways rarely seen elsewhere. Some became flightless. Others filled ecological roles that mammals occupy on other continents. …
May 23 2024
The Scarlet Tanager (Piranga olivacea) is one of the most spectacular songbirds of eastern North America. A breeding male can seem almost impossibly bright, with a scarlet-red body set against jet-black wings and tail. Yet despite those dramatic colors, Scarlet Tanagers can be surprisingly difficult to find. They spend much of their time high in …
Mar 16 2024
The Northern Goshawk has long been regarded as one of the most powerful and elusive hawks of North America’s forests. With broad wings, a long tail, piercing eyes, and an extraordinary ability to pursue prey through dense woodland, this formidable raptor seems perfectly designed for life among the trees. There is one important naming change …
Mar 12 2024
The Gila Woodpecker (Melanerpes uropygialis) is one of the most characteristic birds of the Sonoran Desert. Where many woodpeckers are strongly associated with forests, this adaptable species has made a home among towering saguaros, desert washes, mesquite groves, palms, and even suburban neighborhoods. Its appearance is distinctive: a warm tan head and underparts contrast with …
Mar 11 2024
The Northern Pygmy-Owl (Glaucidium gnoma) is proof that a bird does not need to be large to be a formidable predator. Barely larger than many of the songbirds it hunts, this tiny owl patrols the mountain forests of western North America with bright yellow eyes, sharp talons, and a surprisingly bold personality. Unlike many owls, …
Mar 03 2024
Tropical birds include some of the most colorful, unusual, and specialized birds on Earth. Brilliant macaws sweep over rainforest canopies, hummingbirds hover beside flowers, toucans reach for fruit with enormous bills, and quetzals disappear almost magically into green cloud forests. In other parts of the tropics, hornbills, sunbirds, cassowaries, parrots, kingfishers, and birds-of-paradise occupy equally …
Mar 02 2024
The White-tailed Ptarmigan (Lagopus leucura) is a remarkably specialized grouse of North America’s high mountains. Small, round-bodied, and extraordinarily well camouflaged, this hardy bird spends its entire life in cold alpine environments where snow, wind, exposed rock, and low-growing vegetation shape nearly every aspect of its behavior. Unlike most North American birds, White-tailed Ptarmigan do …
Jan 30 2024
Granite cliffs and thundering waterfalls may dominate the postcards, but Yosemite National Park is just as remarkable for what moves through its forests, meadows, rivers, and mountain skies. Yosemite supports an extraordinary variety of birdlife because the park climbs from relatively low-elevation foothills to alpine country above 13,000 feet. Along the way, oak woodland gives …
